Emily Pérez is the author of House of Sugar, House of Stone, and the chapbook Backyard Migration Route. She earned an MFA at the University of Houston, where she served as a poetry editor for Gulf Coast and taught with Writers in the Schools. Her poems have appeared in journals including Crab Orchard Review, Calyx, Borderlands, and DIAGRAM. She is a high school dean and English teacher in Denver where she lives with her husband and sons.

Ryan Sharp holds an MFA in Writing from Pacific University and is currently pursuing his PhD in poetry and poetics at the University of Texas. His poetry and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in several journals including Berkeley Poetry Review, Callaloo, DIALOGIST, The Ilanot Review, and PANK. He lives in Austin, TX, where he serves as the editor for Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and as the Writers’ Studio Coordinator at Huston-Tillotson University.

Under the question “Is this donation in honor of a 30/30 poet?” please scroll down and select my name (7th from the top under DECEMBER). I have a modest fund raising goal, and I’d like to surpass it.

My first full-length book, House of Sugar, House of Stone will be published in spring 2016 by the Center for Literary Publishing (housed right here at CSU in Fort Collins!). I am beyond thrilled—but once that book is out, it’s out. What’s next? I don’t know. I’m excited about the Tupelo Press 30/30 project because I have to produce work, and I have to produce it in the midst of parenting, working full time, and trying to be a responsive wife and friend. This is terrifying but also the kick in the pants that I need. When I have the whole work/writing/life balance thing figured out, I’ll let you know.

I appreciate your support in any form, and if you’d like me to email you the poem a day along with a few notes about what inspired it, let me know, and I’d be happy to send it your way.